Making room with the Body Code/Emotion Code

In January, there is a lot of talk about creating new behaviors and habits: Going to the gym, meditating, getting off sugar/alcohol, etc. We create room for the new things in our life and add new routines to our lives.

In the Spring, we go through the process of spring cleaning - cleaning out our closets and drawers and reorganizing the space we live in. We make room for new things to join our space or create a new sense of relief when our belongings are more organized.

Now imagine a cup of ice, full to the top. When we try to add our drink into the cup, very little liquid goes in - there is too much ice for the amount of liquid we want - there isn’t room. We need to clear something out (pour out some ice) so that we can enjoy our drink.

That is generally the same concept as Body Code/Emotion Code -making room! During these sessions we are clearing out, realigning and rebalancing the underlying imbalances that are keeping up feeling less than, limited, symptomatic and full of dis-ease.

Clearing old, unprocessed, trapped emotions and underlying imbalances creates space for more: more joy, increased ability to love and be loved, and a release of the physical and mental restraints that limit us.

A Heart Wall is a layered wall of old, unprocessed emotions that create a wall around our heart, usually out of a need for protection. This wall, although important when formed, can also suffocate our ability to fully love and be loved in the present moment. There is no room! The wall has closed us off from these new emotions/experiences.

As we move into the new year - think about the room we need to create new behaviors, reach our goals and feel the joy of the current moment. If you find yourself feeling full and stuck, the Body Code and Emotion Code can help.

Take the oxygen first - nourish yourself first

If you have ever been on an airplane, you have heard the staff tell the adults to “take the oxygen first” if the air pressure is compromised, This is also an important thing to do in our everyday lives. During a time when we are told “to help others, give to others, and think of others”, taking the oxygen first may sound wrong. But it is more important than ever for us to get to know and nourish our mental/emotional, energetic and physical selves. The stressors of everyday life (work, lack of work, children, illness, spouses, friends) will be easer to handle when you have done the work to create calming practices in your life.

Imagine giving a talk at work after waking up late, full of caffeine after a late night, your body aching from rushing to work after not exercising for days. You are unable to be a team player because you have no energy or patience for anyone else. Now imagine being at work energized from a good night sleep, after eating a full nutritious breakfast and exercising or doing yoga or breath work before heading to the office. Your talk will be much better in the second scenario because you took the time for a morning routine, putting yourself first, nourishing your mind and body. You will also be able to respond to your co-workers in a more calm and thoughtful way.

Another way our bodies hold onto stress and pain is through our thoughts. “Our issues are in our tissues'‘ is a common phrase that talks to the fact that our body absorbs the terrors and joys of daily living. Donald Hebb, a Canadian psychologist, says that our mental activity leaves behind lasting physical structures in our brain and body. If we are constantly allowing negative thoughts and experiences to rule our days, our energy will always be thick or stuck.

After a Reiki session, clients report feeling calmer, lighter, cooler, with a less foggy mind. Pain can be reduced and there is just a sense of well-being. Yoga and breathing or mindfulness exercises can also create flow and awareness in the present moment and how we relate to it. All of these activities encourage the parasympathetic nervous system to rest, relax and digest.

Four sources of prana or energy are:

Breath - our breath is our source of life, we can practice breathing activities that can calm and energize.

Sleep - our body rejuvenates during our sleep, also activating the parasympathetic nervous system

Nutrition - focusing on fruits and vegetables that nourish our bodies

Meditation/mindfulness - maintains low stress by focusing on the living moment. When the mind is left unchecked, it is not a very good master - the mind is much better when it can become the servant. Mindfulness can help the brain and our daily thoughts as it creates a buffer between a stimulus and a response that becomes calm and thoughtful. We have 50,000-70,000 thoughts a day, if left unnoticed our bodies will suffer.

If you are interested in mindfulness, yoga on and off the mat, or Reiki - please contact me!

Stress depression and reiki

New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Campus conducted one of the first major studies of the effects of reiki on the autonomic nervous system. The results showed a lowering of heart rate, blood pressure and respiration with the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system.

Stress from our daily lives is one of the most common complaints that I hear from clients. From new clients as they jump into their first reiki session or the seasoned client experiencing their second or twentieth reiki session, relieving stress is a common goal.

The root of suffering can be seen as our desire to hold on to our perceived life - avoiding change! What is the one constant in life? Change! There is nothing in this apparent world that we can hold onto. When we create stress over change or perceived change, we start living in the future. We get stressed over what could happen (our brain feeding us incorrect information) or we create amazing stories about the current situation and the futuristic outcome.

“If I am late I will get fired!”

“My blemish is huge and everyone will notice and embarrass me”

“I am never going to get everything done”

These are all “future talk” where we have created a story in our heads about “will” happen. Will it happen, maybe, but if we are living in the moment - we won’t be stressed about what could happen. When we are living in the present moment, we are also un-attached to a particular outcome. Such an important lesson to be stress free. Living in the moment, taking care of items in the moment and being aware of when our thoughts go to an unknown future.

Sometimes we need help to destress and create calm in our bodies and start to become aware of that future self talk and get back into the moment. Reiki engages the parasympathetic nervous system: to rest, rejuvenate, digest and heal. It brings you back to the moment and the realization of what is now. Having an uninterrupted flow of energy creates an environment within the body that allows for healing and stress relief.

Daily life is full of agitators and experiences that help us heal, grow and flourish. Please contact me if you are interested in Reiki, yoga on and off the mat, or mindfulness exercises.

(please note that I am not trying to negate the severe depression and anxiety that people live with that requires top down therapies such as talk therapy and group work).

coping with no manual

Let me introduce you to your BUS - this bus has one driver: YOU. You get to sit in front, by yourself leading the way down the road (your path) - but you are never alone. The passengers on the bus are everything that makes up who you are: the depressed, the athlete, the painter, the story teller, the liar, the thief, the lover, etc. Now picture the inside of the bus and what separates the driver from the passengers - not much. There may be a line painted on the ground, there may even be a plexiglass divider. The driver is given the opportunity to create strong boundaries when they are in that seat. Do we let our passengers up with us - do they sit in our laps? It is definitely more difficult to drive when that happens. They may grab the wheel and we are now heading left, when we wanted to go straight. Some of our passengers have been with us since birth. Some of the passengers we want to let off, but they seem to have unlimited day passes to stay. Some passengers we pick up along the way as we learn new skills, get hurt by new acquaintances and learn to love. We learn ways to deal with our passengers and that is where our TOOL BOX comes in.

Our tool box is very handy and sometimes frustrating (more on that later). Every time we problem solve, learn something that calms us, etc, we put those skills/things in our tool box. Again, some things in our box are given to us at birth - maybe the way to self sooth was taught to us by our care givers, maybe we were introduced to music that we have found through the years that makes us happy. Our tool box can have a counselor or therapist, doctor, or other people that we can trust to help us navigate this life. Our tool box can also have chocolate cookies (although I recommend limiting the amount of food, drugs and alcohol in our tool box), music, poetry, silence, books, walks, runs, bing on the lake, whatever has worked for you in the past and whatever may help you in the future. You may even have something in yours that has only worked once so far in your past, but keep it - tomorrow is a new day.

Also in our bus we have a FIRST AID KIT. There are real things that happen to us that need real solutions. Bandaids, gauze, wraps for sprained ankles. Sometimes we are walking along and all of our passengers come off the bus and jump on our backs - we are overwhelmed and not concentrating on our path and we fall and skin a knee or even our heart gets broken. All good reasons to have a first aid kit available.

Ok, we are back on our bus enjoying the sound of the tires on the road. As we are driving down the road, our path, we may get a flat tire. 4 months ago, we would have gotten that fixed with the tools that have always worked in the past. We would have grabbed a tool from our tool box, maybe called AAA, maybe we know how to fix a flat or a friend does. We would never give on a fixing a flat tire, we would keep fixing them until we got to our destination.

Now think about today, right now, as we are all at home - separated from our “normal” routines. Some of us are out there working- but it is everything but normal. We get a flat tire now and nothing works. We reach into the glove box and grab our bus manual and it is in a language we don’t understand. Nothing is right. Everything about today is different. Thankfully we have a big tool box full of things to try. We need to keep reaching for a new tool.

Well, life is a lot like fixing flats right now. We are grabbing at new and old tools to help us through our anxiety, our boredom, our frustration and fear. We are trying new things to calm us, make us laugh and keep us happy.

Keeping moving forward - realize that there are a lot of things out of our control right now. But we each have a tool box, a beautiful bus taking us down the road on our path of life and a first aid kit for all those times we stumble and get back up. Give yourself some slack, we don’t need to be perfect right now - JUST BE.

Be well everyone!

Reiki for everyone!

Reiki for All Life Stages: From Pregnancy to Elder Care

Although we hear more about adults practicing “self-care”, Reiki is a practice that benefits everyone! Releasing stress and trapped emotions makes you feel lighter and clearer and creating a flow of energy through injuries (old and new) relieves pain and helps with recovery. Please see the article below for more information about Reiki for everyone!

“Reiki helps to restore and strengthen each person’s life force. No matter what the individual’s need is, Reiki will support his or her stability and well-being. Reiki does not discriminate. Its availability is constant. Treatment can be received by anyone, anywhere, anytime. The list of benefits that Reiki offers to its recipients is extensive. Any person, animal, or plant that is in need can be helped with Reiki treatments, given either through the laying on of hands or through distant healing. Reiki is for all life stages.”

https://iarp.org/reiki-life-stages/